


In it with you

by iLuminaries



Category: New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: F/M, Happy Birthday Maki!, Hope's Peak AU, kaede and himiko appear briefly, kaito and maki are just two oblivious dorks, saiouma is implied
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-03
Updated: 2021-02-03
Packaged: 2021-03-14 00:01:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,158
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29037540
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iLuminaries/pseuds/iLuminaries
Summary: “I… I am not a good person, whichever angle you see me from.” her voice was trembling. She clenched her fists so hard they were bruising.If Momota was hurt, he didn’t show it. His expression remained serious and he sat up so that he could bring their faces closer. “I’m not saying what you did is not wrong”.
Relationships: Harukawa Maki & Momota Kaito & Saihara Shuichi, Harukawa Maki/Momota Kaito, Oma Kokichi/Saihara Shuichi
Comments: 2
Kudos: 25





	In it with you

**Author's Note:**

> Hi guys! This is my first fic for the danganronpa fandom, and I decided to write about my favorite ship, so here we are! This is also my first fic in English, so I tried my best and I apologize If there's any mistake. Hope you enjoy it.

“Hey, stay still,” Maki said to the kid in front of her while she tried to button up his shirt. Such a simple task turned ten times more complicated if you had a seven-year-old child - Yamato, a new kid at the orphanage - moving side to side. “If you keep being like this you’ll be late for school” at that the kid stopped moving and glanced up at her with widened eyes.

“No! I wanna go. I promised my friend I’d be there early. ” he cried and stayed still for the next minutes so Maki could finish dressing him up. _Now kids are desperate to go to school?_ She couldn’t really blame him, life in the orphanage became repetitive really quickly, so wanting a change of environment was understandable.

The only garment left was his red cardigan so she went to his bed to get it. She made him turn around so she could put it on him “There. You’re ready.” 

Yamato smiled at her and ran in direction to the door. “Thank you, big sis Maki.” Waving his hand at her he said his goodbyes. Maki only nodded in response, even though he could no longer see her.

**_“Please, behave” “Alright, all of you in one line now.”_ **

The noise coming from next door was a mix of the kids’ yelling along with the cries for help from the people in charge to take them to school. Maki could only imagine the disaster and was glad it wasn’t part of her job. 

The orphanage has been undergoing a staff shortage lately, making it impossible to manage and taking care of so many kids. When Maki heard about the news, she felt responsible since this was the place where she grew up. **_Besides, she wasn't going to let all the effort she made from a very young age be for nothing_**. She goes at least three times a week after school and is usually in charge of giving dinner to the kids and helping with their homework, as well as putting the younger ones to bed. Today was an exception, she didn’t have classes at the academy, so she changed her usual schedule to come in the morning and be free in the evening. 

“Good morning, Maki,” someone greeted her from behind, startling her in the process.

“Morning, Ishikawa-san.” Ishikawa Izumi has been one of the social workers in the orphanage since Maki arrived almost twelve years ago and had recently become the headmistress, so in other words, she had not only taken care of young Maki but was now sort of her boss.

Ishikawa smiled and walked towards her “Here, they were making some crafts yesterday and wanted me to give this to you.” the older woman showed her different drawings and two necklaces. Maki looked at them and had no option but to take them. It wasn’t new for her to receive gifts from the kids and she accepted them out of remorse more than anything. “They really like you,” Ishikawa said sweetly. Maki knew that; she has been good with kids all her life, although she has no idea what they see in her. She on the other hand… she was indifferent, mostly just tolerating them. 

The headmistress continues “I know you have exam season coming up.” Her happy expression was replaced by concern. “I’ve already told you this, but you could take some days off to study, I’m sure we can handle a few-” 

“There's no need to do that.” Maki didn’t let Ishikawa finish and grabbed her backpack; it wasn’t where she had originally placed it - the chair next to Yamato’s bed - but under the said bed, probably because the kids wouldn’t keep their hands off her stuff. After checking that everything she had was still inside, she looked at her boss and sighed “Thank you for your concern, though.” 

“If you say so.” the woman didn’t sound convinced, but she shrugged it off “Ah, by the way, there are two handsome boys at the main door looking for you.” 

Maki stopped in her tracks as soon as she heard that. _What?_ There were only two people Ishikawa could be talking about. Quickly, Maki checked her watch. _8:50 am_. Well, now she knew the reason why those two were here. She was running late, great. Maki turned to the social worker and bid her goodbyes.

* * *

“Yo, Harumaki! Ready to kick our asses in today's training?” greeted the tallest of the boys. He was wearing a black sleeveless shirt with some grey shorts. How was he not freezing she had no idea, it was 10°C outside for fuck’s sake. She noticed he had his classic purple jacket with a galaxy pattern on. “Woah, you look terrible.” 

“Do you think before you speak, Momota?” She deadpanned, walking past him and towards the bluenette. “Hello, Saihara.” 

“Good morning, Harukawa-san,” he said with a smile. Then the three of them followed the path to the nearest gym. Saihara’s workout gear seemed more appropriate to the weather, with a long-sleeved shirt, a big blue jacket, and black shorts but with leggings underneath. “Um, but Momota-kun is right. Is everything ok? You look tired.”

Was it really that obvious? Whatever. She has had a similar conversation with Ishikawa minutes ago and she didn’t want to continue it or worry her friends enough for them to cancel their training session. “Nothing to worry about, I just... pulled an all-nighter.” she guessed that leaving them without an answer would worry them even more. 

“Too much work in the orphanage?” asked Momota, walking next to her. 

“Something like that. The upcoming exams don’t help either.”

“Ah! that reminds me.” Saihara exclaimed, rummaging through his backpack “last week you asked me for some notes. Here,” her friend handed her a small notebook “Kirigiri-san said she wrote down most of the main topics that Tokyo University evaluates. I’ve already transferred them to my laptop so you can have them, but tell me when you are done so I can give them back.” 

Kyoko Kirigiri was an upperclassman who studied with them at Hope’s Peak Academy and is now studying criminology at the same university both Maki and Shuichi are planning to apply to. “Yes, this may be of great help. Thank you, Saihara. I'll be sure to thank Kirigiri-san next time I see her as well”. 

“Aw, man. I can’t believe my sidekicks and I are going to different universities.” Momota cried out and leaned against Maki, making her trip on her feet. The blush on her face went unnoticed but trying to control her racing heart was more difficult. Kaito must’ve noticed she was not comfortable because he separated from her almost instantly and positioned himself between her and Shuichi. “Sorry” he whispered so that only Maki was able to hear. If that was supposed to calm down her giddiness, it was clearly not working. _Stop it, there are other things to worry about._ she said to herself.

Saihara let out a giggle “C’mon, Momota-kun, we´ll still see each other.”

“Well, obviously, but it won’t be the same as seeing you guys every day at school.” How had they gone from talking about Maki’s lack of sleep to talking about school so quickly was beyond her. Anyways, it worked in her favor, since she didn’t really want to talk about what was bothering her, at least not yet. “Oh, remember last year when the class decided to run a haunted house at the school festival? It was a total success!”

“You say it as if you hadn't been the first one to be opposed to the idea,” said Maki, remembering how scared Momota had been and the time he had wasted complaining to the student who came up with the theme. Oma loved getting under Momota’s skin so it was no surprise. Their homeroom teacher ended up liking the idea; haunted houses always did well, plus they had Shinguji and Yonaga with them for an even more tangible experience - whatever that meant - Iruma and her inventions were a great addition too. "You stayed outside for most of the time being the one checking people in and once you came in you wouldn't let go of me."

Saihara’s giggle turned into a loud laughter contagious enough to make Maki laugh.

“Harumaki, not fair! Iruma’s inventions really made it seem like the real deal and did you not see how freaking terrifying Shinguji looked? He’s scary enough without any costumes on! '' grumbled Momota but soon joined his friends as they laughed. Then he put his arms around them and brought them into a hug. “Now that I think about it, I’m not gonna miss that day too much.” he pulled them even closer. 

_There it is again_ , Maki could feel her face grow hotter almost making her forget it was winter. “Stop it, idiot,” she said in a low voice and Momota did as indicated. “You two better be ready for training, I’m not going easy on any of you.” She threatened them.

They continued walking as their laughs died down. 

* * *

They got back to the dorms at Hope’s Peak around 2 pm after three hours of training and having lunch. Like always, Maki finished the routine before Momota or Saihara. The latter has improved greatly from their first training session back in their first year of high school. He always found it hard to keep her and Momota’s pace since he wasn't very athletic before befriending the aspiring astronaut. Today, however, Saihara surprised both of them by being able to keep Maki’s pace for the first two hours. 

The three of them parted ways in the common room. The brunette was walking to her dorm when someone called out to her. 

“Maki, you’re back.” a blonde and slightly taller girl smiled at her.

"Hey, Akamatsu." Kaede Akamatsu was many things: their class representative ever since first year, the ultimate pianist who already had performances scheduled for when she finished high school, one of the most popular girls in school, and Shuichi's closest friend besides Momota, so that meant the four of them hang out quite often. The girl was sitting on the couch in the center of the room, accompanied by Chabashira and Tojo. Maki approached them and asked what was what she wanted.

“The mail arrived this morning but you had already left so I told the mailman I’d give it to you once you arrived,” the blonde placed one of the envelopes she was holding in her hands “these other two are for Momota-kun and Amami-kun. They weren’t here either, I’ll give it to them in a bit.”

Maki nodded in response and thanked her friend before walking swiftly to her dorm.

As soon as she opened her door, she dropped her backpack on the floor and laid on her bed. She stared at the envelope in her right hand and contemplated opening it or simply ignoring it. Minutes passed by and her tiredness won over her thinking process, falling asleep with a sense of distress growing inside of her.

When she woke up it was already 6:30 pm in the evening and everything around her was dark. With a sigh, she got up and turned her lights on, changed into her pajamas, and picked up her backpack. There, she found the notes Saihara had given her earlier and decided to write them down on her own notepad. 

**_Topics for entrance exam:_ **

_(this is the general index, each page onwards has a more detailed explanation)._

_Japanese_

_English as a foreign language_

_Mathematics_

_Biology, Chemistry and Physics_

_World history_

_Note: Some careers require you to write an essay as well. Law and criminology is one of them, so I suggest doing some research if you’re applying for it._

Out of all those, Maki was sure she was only good at Japanese, history, and average at English. Maths and science in general weren’t her forte. Maybe she could meet up with Saihara in the library to study. Asking Momota for help wasn’t a bad idea either, he wasn’t applying for aeronautic engineering for nothing after all. That guy was a genius when it came to science, it was hard to believe he wasn’t at least in the top 5 of the class. She quietly read the next pages of Kirigiri’s notes until being interrupted by a sudden visit. 

Maki opened her door and saw Himiko. Apparently, the magician had ordered too much fast food and now was sharing it with all of the eight girls from their class. Maki was about to decline the offer but her grumbling stomach gave her away and ended up accepting the box of fried chicken.

“Nyeh, I gotta go back to my room. Tenko really wanted to watch this movie about some guys who get lost in the woods.”

“Chabashira? Asking to watch a movie with male protagonists in it?” 

“I was surprised too.” Himiko giggled as she balanced on her tiptoes “but the movie is good... I think.” Instead of saying goodbye, the redhead stood under her door frame and stared inside her room. “There’s an envelope under your bed. Who is it from? A university?” 

The mention of the envelope made Maki tense up. She has been avoiding it, there’s no doubt about it, that’s the reason why she didn’t immediately open it when Akamatsu gave it to her nor when she woke up. “I haven’t read it yet,” before her friend could say anything else, she continued “I was taking some notes before you came, so I think you should go” that came off more rude than what she intended. “Thank you for the food.”

Himiko must’ve noticed her increasing desperation because she let out a silent “Is everything okay, Maki?” right before the brunette shut the door on her face. How many times has she been asked the same question today?. 

* * *

**_N° 020210_ ** _,_

_It has come to our attention that your studies at Hope’s Peak Academy are coming to an end in the next few months. We remind you you were allowed to study these three years on one condition: that you would get back to work once you finish them. You are an important asset among our people - one of the best, in fact - so we hope to see your return. We are sure you know what’s left unsaid._

There wasn’t a return address, no clue as to who may have sent it. But Maki knew very well the people behind this.

Her hands began shaking unwittingly. 

* * *

It has been a week since she read the dreadful letter. Having sleepless nights was becoming a habit of hers by now. Everyone in her class realized something wrong was definitely going on with her and were trying to help in their own way. Even Oma stopped bothering her because she was too tired to respond to any of his provocations “Pft, you’re boring, I need some entertainment.” he told her and then proceeded to tease Iruma. 

“Okay, that’s enough.” she heard someone say beside her and out of nowhere she felt a weight on top of her head “Snap out of it, Harumaki!”. So it was Momota, huh. She shook her head and noticed both of her friends were sitting with her in the library. 

“Sorry, I spaced out.” She apologized. Looking down at the desk she saw a thick book and many sheets of paper with exercises and scratches. _Right, we were reviewing physics_.

“Harukawa-san, you’re really starting to worry us. You haven’t been paying attention in class lately and we had to bring some food to your dorm because you weren’t coming down to the dining hall all this last week.”

“Shuichi’s right. I understand being tired because of all the extra work you do at the orphanage, but you look sick. If it’s too much we could give you a hand,” Momota said for both him and Saihara in a serious tone.

“Yes, I can organize myself and I may be able to have some extra time.”

Maki remained silent and looked at them “C’mon, the kids there love me! It’ll be easy. That way you can get some rest.” God, this guy could be cocky when he wanted to. “What do you say, Harumaki?” Momota tried to get her attention by waving a bottle of orange juice in front of her face.

 _The orphanage itself isn’t the problem, though._ “No. I don’t want you to lose time in what is my responsibility, specially you Shuichi.” she declared rather fiercely “You want that internship at the agency, don’t you? I can’t let you lose that opportunity because you spent a day taking care of some kids. Now, can we keep studying, please?” 

Her friends looked back at each other and gave up on the subject at hand but Maki knew it would come up again sooner or later. 

And so it did.

“Hello?” Saihara answered his phone “Oh hi, Oma-kun.” So it was that gremlin. The bluenette stood up, excused himself and walked out the library. Those two have gotten awfully close this last year of school, enough for the detective to pick up some traits from the tiny demon. It had worried Momota more than it did to her, because even though she didn’t particularly like Oma, she could see why him and Saihara would get along. Momota had warmed up to the idea, nevertheless.

“You’re spacing out again.” 

“I was thinking about Saihara’s friendship with Oma.” she said, still focused on solving the exercise on the practice sheet.

“Ah, that. Gotta admit, Oma is still a pain in the ass, but he’s actually a cool guy if you take all that teasing away.” Maki never thought she’d hear Momota complimenting Oma. She hummed in response and showed her friend her sheet so he could check if the answers were correct.

He brought his pen to his mouth, biting its tip, and concentrated on reviewing each question. Meanwhile, Maki tapped her fingers against the table. “I think you made a mistake here. Yup, the formula is -” Momota was talking but his phone vibrated and cut him off “it’s Shuichi, he says something came up and he had to go.”

“So he just left his things here?” she asked incredulously.

“He asked me to take them back to the dorm.” _Oh well._

“Hey, Harumaki, come with me.” Momota was packing his and Saihara’s belongings and told her to also do so. “Hurry up!”

“Excuse me?” She exclaimed. The librarian shushed her and asked her to lower her voice.

He didn’t even finish correcting her work. 

* * *

They left their belongings in their respective rooms together. When she asked him why he didn’t let her go by herself he replied “That way I make sure you don’t stand me up.” This idiot, he wasn’t wrong, she most likely would have locked herself in her dorm until the next day.

“Can I know what you are planning to do?” They were in the common room putting on their shoes.

“We are just going to take a walk” without notice, he took her hand and guided her through the door. Her face flushed crimson red and her heart was racing so much she felt it was gonna burst out of her chest. These feelings have been there for a while now and she knows what they are, she’s not dumb.

The last thing Maki thought when she arrived at Hope’s Peak was that she’d end up making friends, her distant and cold personality had kept people away from her since forever. She only talked to people if it was absolutely necessary, group projects and teachers for example. Everything was going according to plan until Oma had the guts to make her one of his pranks' targets. He bothered her nonstop and one day he cornered her in the hallway. The brunette doesn’t know to this day how Oma found out the details of her job before the academy but the argument ended with Maki grabbing Oma by the neck and pushing him against the wall. The commotion caused the other students to leave their classrooms, at which point Maki let go of Oma who would not stop coughing.

The events brought more attention to her than what she would have liked and along came Momota and Saihara, well, Momota was the one to approach her first. At the beginning their conversations were one-sided. Maki did her best to ignore him, but her efforts were in vain when they had to do a project together. It was at one of their meetings that Momota asked her to join him in his training. Seeing that there was no way around it, Maki ended up going to the courtyard behind the sports field. She wasn’t expecting Saihara to be there, distinctly shocked to see her. It amused her how many people were afraid of her.

With Saihara came Akamatsu, then Yumeno and with her Chabashira. The aikido master was even more enthusiastic than Momota and had a thing against males but she was a good sparring partner.

Thus, three years went by and Maki got closer to Momota and Saihara, thinking of them as her best friends; however, when did the line between friendship and something else become blurry with Momota? She was not supposed to develop this type of feelings. She was taught to only value the essentials so she could completely focus on her missions. Falling for someone was absurdity, complete absurdity. Or that’s what she liked to think. 

Maki fixed her gaze on their clasped hands, despite the awkwardness she made no effort to free herself from him. She was sure the boy was saying something, but with all her worries going around in her head, she could not elucidate what he was saying. Now that she thought about it, Momota was obviously taking her out for a walk in order to talk to her and he wasn't going to take an _'I'm fine'_ for an answer, at least not anymore. She has been delaying the confrontation as much as she could, so he must be at his limit. _Saihara really had to leave us alone at a time like this, huh._

“Ok, here we are!” announced Momota. Maki moved her head around to identify the place. _That wasn’t a really long walk._ He was still holding her hand but his free hand and arm were extended showing her where he had taken her. The courtyard behind the sports field, the one where they had their first training sessions. It was poorly illuminated, mostly because the lampposts were off, which shouldn’t be but she guessed the light coming from the moon was enough for now. Suddenly, she felt the warmth in her hand be replaced by cold air and saw Momota laying on the grass, he patted the side next to him, telling her to do the same. 

“Are you crazy? There’s snow there, we’ll freeze.” she called him out, so Momota removed the snow from the spot she was gonna lay on.

Reluctantly, Maki did as she was told. “If we catch a cold, it’ll be your fault” she warned him and looked up at the sky full of stars, more so than usual, and there was a full moon. Leave it to the self-proclaimed Luminary of the Stars to take you stargazing to talk about your problems. 

“The sky looks beautiful, don’t you think so, Harumaki?”

Was she supposed to answer or should she just confront him about his intentions? “I guess, yes,” she replied. He didn’t say anything in return so the brunette took it as a clue to keep talking. “I know why you brought me out here” she was getting nervous and started tugging one of her twintails, a habit she had ever since she was eight. “Alright, I’ll tell you, just give me a few seconds to collect my thoughts,” Momota grinned, which definitely didn’t help her nervousness. “You’re the most stubborn person I’ve ever met, you know that?”

“I’ll take that as a compliment” His grin grew even wider. 

“Remember what I told you when we first met?” She asked, her gaze still focused on the night sky.

“If I wanted to die?” She quickly turned her head to her right, her red eyes glaring at him as hard as they could. “Bad joke, very bad joke. Continue” He shifted in his place so that he no longer laid on his back but on his left side. Looking attentively at her. 

“What I told you and Saihara about my past.” Her uneasiness grew inside of her. Was it safe to tell him the truth? Was it worth it getting him involved? And not only him but Saihara too, it was a matter of time for him to get this information, most likely from Momota, and her friends definitely wouldn’t stay put. Breathing in and out she then said “They want me back.”

“WHAT?!” His eyes widened in an instant and he jumped off the ground. Important detail about Momota Kaito: he couldn’t control his emotions in front of stressful situations, so he would overreact constantly. At least at first, because his expression has just done a 180° and was now completely serious. “I thought you said it was over for good.”

She skipped many details the time she talked to them about her past, like the reason why she was allowed to go to Hope's Peak or who were the ones in charge of the cult she worked for, mainly because she herself didn’t know. “I never said anything like that,” she had been deluding herself these past three years, thinking she was able to live a normal life when in reality she was just given a break from her nightmares, but they were coming back, claiming her.

Momota was looking at her, his face thoughtful, probably trying to come up with something to say to her. He was always so cheerful and stupidly positive, trying to brighten up everyone around him to the point of hiding his own struggles. Somewhat hypocritical. It annoyed her but also worried both her and Saihara. 

“How do you know that?” his voice was low, completely different from his normal boisterous voice.

“They let me study here on the condition to come back. I never knew why they would do so, but I think it has something to do with the ultimate labs the school provides for us” The only people who knew what was inside her lab were Momota, Saihara, and Oma. It was filled with weapons of all types: crossbows, knives, guns, and more. She didn’t have access to most of them in the cult so here she could train with those. “They expected me to improve my abilities, to become a better…” _Killing machine._

“Geez, don’t talk as if you were some kind of killing machine or object.” he interfered. 

Maki sat up with her legs against her chest, hugging them “That’s exactly how they see me”.

“Well, they’re pieces of shit and you shouldn’t think so lowly of yourself.”

Her discomfort combined with the feeling of helplessness was taking a toll on her and what just came out of Momota’s mouth was the last straw to make her snap.

“You don’t know what it’s like to be me so you have no right to tell me how to feel” she was getting mad and raised her voice without noticing, even so, she didn’t stop talking “you are lucky enough to have grown up in a loving family” she knew his parents were dead and that he was brought up by his grandparents instead, but she wasn’t thinking right now “you’ve never had to kill a person, good or bad. You haven’t spent nights throwing up after having your first mission,” she was venting, her arms moving in different directions in exasperation. 

“I… I am not a good person, whichever angle you see me from.” her voice was trembling. She clenched her fists so hard they were bruising. 

If Momota was hurt, he didn’t show it. His expression remained serious and he sat up so that he could bring their faces closer. “I’m not saying what you did is not wrong” another of her friend’s traits was his bluntness, he never sugar-coated what he wanted to say. It may come off as rude or mean to some people but sometimes one needed to hear the hard truth to react.

Or that’s what he believed, at least. “I see you haven’t defeated your enemy yet.”

“Enemy?” Maki didn’t know what nonsense he was talking about, then she remembered a similar conversation they had with Saihara when she revealed to them her real talent. They hadn’t talked about this for a long time so she had forgotten. With that in mind, Maki started calming down.

“As you said, I can’t even begin to imagine what it’s like to live such life. But you’re willing to change it right? You acknowledge it and that’s what’s important. I’ve already told you, haven’t I?” Maki was breathing deeply while she listened to him. He brought his hand to her head and stroke it “Plus you’re doing it for the kids at the orphanage. That’s very brave of you.” He smiled.

“That doesn’t change the fact that I’ve killed in cold blood, idiot.” 

“Well, no but” he pouted and scratched the back of his head “hey what if we put an end to this? No, we **_must_ ** put an end to this!” 

“What are you talking about?” The idiot was at it again. 

“We could ask the academy or even Kirigiri-san’s agency for help!”

“Don’t you think that if the academy could do something they would have done it already? Don’t be foolish, this is a fucked up world.” Hope’s Peak had scouted her as the ultimate assassin to begin with - covering up as the ultimate child-caregiver was her idea to avoid being targeted and harmed like in the past - so that meant they cherished her talent as a killer. It was disturbing how an academy whose most important principle was to form future world leaders also thought it was necessary to have people do the dirty work.

“Harumaki, why are you so pessimistic?” he joked.

“I’m just being realistic, Momota,” she said firmly. It was impressive how he could go from being dead serious to silly in seconds. She’d never admit she found it alluring. “I received a letter from them a week ago. I’ll start having missions once I finish school.”

“What about your plans, you’re still applying to university, right?”

“I can still study, at least I think so.” She was playing with the snow on the ground, drawing random figures. It’s still a mystery to her why she didn’t have any missions these past years, not that she was complaining. She’ll be rusty for sure and require some training beforehand. _I shouldn’t be getting used to the idea, damn it._

“There’s nothing to worry about,” that was certainly not true, but she understood where he was coming from “just leave it to the Luminary of the Stars and my sidekick!” he pointed a finger at himself as he laughed. Maki knew there was no way to change his mind so she decided to turn her sight back to the vast sky. Momota must’ve noticed it because he interjected “We can see the stars clearly tonight.” 

Every time he talked about space his voice acquired a special sweet tone, showing how passionate he was about it. It was no surprise his lifelong dream was to go up there. “Look! We can see the Ursa major _and_ Ursa minor” he announced excitedly. Maki followed his forefinger, it was pointing to the north. She would be lying if she said she identified the constellations. She tried squeezing her eyes to get a better view but to no avail. “Here, let me show you.” For a second time that day, her cold hand became warm. Momota enveloped his hand around hers and raised it, indicating where he previously pointed.

It was more evident to Maki now, she could see two sets of stars shining brighter than the rest. She connected the stars in her mind and the shape they took was that of a spoon?. All her knowledge of stars came from what Momota told her and Saihara whenever they went stargazing, but she was sure the Ursa major and minor were supposed to be bears. _Whatever_ , she thought. “Do they have a story behind?”

“There are many, actually. One of them says they’re a mother and son. They’re near each other so that the son can take care of his mother even after death. He felt guilty because he killed her while she was a bear.” He turned to her with fond eyes which made her smile in return.

Relief washed over her replacing her previous uneasiness. The weight she carried over her shoulders has always been huge, increasing as the years passed by. Having people to talk it out with was something that took her a while to accept, but was grateful for. It didn’t make the weight disappear, but it sure decreased it.

She was aware there was still a long time for the cult to dissolve or for its leaders to be made accountable for their actions and be thrown into jail. She can’t help but wonder if she would be included if it ever were to happen. “Thank you, for listening to me” she spoke serenely realizing there was no need to worry about it right now.

Momota tilted his head, quirked eyebrows adorning his face “You’re being unusually honest with your feelings.”

“Don’t ruin it.” she elbowed him on his chest.

“Haha, that’s what friends are for.” He laughed it off. 

“I guess,” Maki mumbled and hid her head between her knees. “Tomorrow. Let’s talk this over again tomorrow with Saihara.” Now that she told Momota what was going on, she thought Saihara had the right to know as well. She could receive some valuable inputs from him.

Momota nodded his head “By the way, I’m helping you with the orphanage, no buts. You need to regain a week of sleep.” he proclaimed and proceeded to teach her more facts about space. Trying to change his mind was in vain and she really was fond of the idea of more sleep. He has helped her once before, the kids were always pranking him but that showed they liked him enough, so Maki was not that worried. She’ll have to notify Ishikawa-san.

Maki paid attention to his discourse about constellations for several minutes, learning how because of the speed of light when you gaze up into the night sky, you are looking into the past; and how there is a flower garden on NASA's international space station, where they were able to bloom despite all the adversities that surrounded them.

Their hands remained intertwined, neither of them wanting to let go.

* * *

**_From: Harukawa Maki_ **

**_To: Saihara Shuichi_ **

**_8:22 pm_ **

_Sorry to bother you, but I wanted to talk to you tomorrow, are you busy?_

**_From: Saihara Shuichi_ **

**_To: Harukawa Maki_ **

**_8:27 pm_ **

_Oh, absolutely, Harukawa-san. Is it alright if it is at lunch break?_

**_From: Harukawa Maki_ **

**_To: Saihara Shuichi_ **

**_8:28 pm_ **

_It's ok. Thank you, see you tomorrow._

**_From: Saihara Shuichi_ **

**_To: Harukawa Maki_ **

**_8:30 pm_ **

_I'm glad to hear you're ready to talk, Harukawa-san. We're here for you._

Maki read the last message Saihara sent her as she sat down on the feet of her bed, thinking of how to keep the conversation going. It didn’t take long before she decided to type an “I know” and click send. It wasn’t after she did it, that she noticed how cold the text sounded. Ignoring her embarrassment, she put away her phone, and thoughts of her friend came to her. Saihara’s personality has undoubtedly changed from how he was when she met him. He appeared to be more confident and came off as a reliable person. She hadn’t noticed it until now, maybe because they were around each other almost every day so that his growth was something she got used to and didn’t see it as something new. 

She found the letter the cult had sent her while she was looking for her hairbrush on her nightstand. There was a second envelope next to it. She had retrieved it from her mail the previous day and noticed it didn’t have a sender either. Perhaps it was better if she opened it tomorrow at lunch. With her friends.

 _Yes, I’ll open it tomorrow_.

* * *

The next morning in their meeting, Saihara noticed his friends were coughing and their noses were running “How did you two catch a cold at the same time, guys?” he asked them, giving them some tissues to dry their noses.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading! Kudos and comments are always welcomed. I'm planning to write another kaimaki fic and a saiouma one for Valentine's day. I hope I get to finish them before I start university in a week, though. Thank you again.


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